Everyone agrees that our current system of immigration and enforcement is not working due to many years of non-enforcement of our immigration laws and widespread abuse of our system by foreign law-breakers. Here are the common sense solutions that would solve our illegal immigration crisis and protect America’s long history of welcoming immigrants to our country and protecting them from illegal immigrants and criminal employers who cheapen their sacrifices and threaten their opportunities in their new home country.

1. Secure the Borders – Give the Border Patrol and Customs (CBP) what they need to secure our borders, ports of entry, and our coastlines. This includes secure fencing wherever practicable, sensors, cameras, and personnel to prevent illegal entry by smugglers and illegal aliens. We must finally obtain full operational control over the entire southern border, not just a few segments of it. We must stop the mass flow of unknown foreigners, criminals, illicit contraband and drugs.

2. Enforce all federal immigration laws. Give ICE the personnel, resources, and authority to enforce all of our nation’s immigration laws aggressively and effectively, especially against employers of illegal workers and those who illegally give financial and other public aid to illegal aliens (except emergency services). No public benefits or welfare to illegal aliens. Aiding and abetting an alien is still a felony crime. Penalize law-breaking sanctuary cities that defy federal laws. All magnets must be turned off to prevent or reduce future illegal immigration.

– Find and expel all visa overstays and others who abuse our legal immigration system for criminal gain.

– Strengthen the Secure Communities program so that every criminal alien arrested by local law enforcement is detained and deported by ICE, after any jail/prison sentence for their crimes.

3. Mandatory E-Verify for all Employers. E-Verify is already mandatory for all federal government agencies and contractors because it is accurate and effective in preventing illegal hiring of illegal aliens and other unauthorized workers. It is also mandatory in several states and has been very effective in turning off the “jobs magnet” in those states.

4. Reduce Annual Legal Immigration numbers to reasonable levels that our country and our workforce can absorb. According to experts, our nation can safely accept and assimilate approximately 250,000 – 500,000 new immigrants per year, depending on the current unemployment rate. Unemployed American workers should never have to compete with new immigrants for scarce jobs in times of high unemployment. Currently the U.S. allows in 1.1 million legal immigrants and nearly one million illegal immigrants per year. The results of this extremely high number of newcomers have been a disaster to our economy, our workforce, and our federal, state, and local government budgets.

5. End Birthright Citizenship. Babies born to foreigner visitors and illegal aliens on U.S. soil should not be automatic U.S. citizens; they are citizens of their parents’ home country. Close this this long-abused “anchor baby” loophole to protect American citizens and legal immigrants. The U.S. is the only large industrialized country on Earth that still gives free birthright citizenship to foreign babies. All other countries have ended the archaic and insane practice of rewarding illegal aliens with free citizenship for their offspring, making them instantly eligible for taxpayer-funded benefits. The oft-quoted 14th Amendment was intended for the newborn children of freed African slaves only, not the millions of illegal aliens having children in our country. Congress can issue a clarification to eliminate this major cause of illegal immigration at any time and should take action in 2013 to fix this problem once and for all. Newborn babies must have at least one parent with U.S. citizenship to be given automatic U.S. citizenship.

6. Fix and enforce our Guest Worker System. There are numerous guest worker programs for agriculture and businesses to bring in temporary workers to meet their workforce needs where there are not enough American workers available, but the programs are not being used because they are not enforced by the Federal Government. We must ensure that all agriculture and businesses are using vetted, legal, temporary foreign workers only and that the guest workers go home when their period of employment is over.

7. Only after all of the above steps and measures (tangible triggers) have been implemented and deemed fully effective in preventing future illegal immigration by Congress and impartial entities, should there be legalization of any illegal aliens, on a case by case basis, after paying appropriate penalties and all back taxes if they choose to come forth and apply for legal status. No illegal alien with any misdemeanor or felony convictions will ever be eligible for any legalization; they must leave the U.S. immediately or face penalties and deportation when caught.

– This legalization would contain no “pathway to citizenship”; only the ability to live and work here as a Green Card holder and under all the requirements of the Green Card. If citizenship is desired, they must return to their home country and apply and wait their turn, just like anyone else would have to do.

No more mass amnesties/legalizations that undermine U.S. national security and the rule of law.

Strong, but humane attrition through enforcement is the only proven solution to illegal immigration in the U.S. and around the world.